Bank to pay back Kirsty

account, her South African bank confirmed on Wednesday.

The Olympic champion swimmer revealed on Tuesday that money had mysteriously left her account, and now the First National Bank has confirmed that she was the victim of a fraud that is on the rise in South Africa.
“The customer’s debit card was skimmed and cloned. The fraudster then accessed her account using a cloned card at an ATM,” FNB spokesman Stephen Higgins told New Zimbabwe.com.

“We have completed our investigations and are currently attempting to contact the customer to give a report. FNB’s policy is that we will reimburse the customer when cards are skimmed and cloned.”
The bank, citing customer confidentiality, would not say how much was stolen. Coventry, who is preparing to represent Zimbabwe at the World Swimming Championships in Shanghai, China, starting on Saturday, revealed on Twitter that the raid on her account had left her “angry”.

On the same day Coventry uncovered the fraud, South Africa’s Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC) was sending out a customer warning about the growing incidence of “cloning” which involves the theft of an individual’s card information stored on the magnetic strip of the card.

A person’s card information is obtained mostly by criminals using handheld skimming devices in shops, restaurants or ATMs. A typical example is where a dishonest shop assistant or restaurant employee takes your card out of your sight in order to process your transaction. The card is then swiped through an electronic device which reads the magnetic strip and stores the credit card number. Criminals then use this information to make counterfeit cards which, once the person’s PIN is obtained, can be used for transactions.

“The banks are increasingly receiving reports of clients who have lost monies from their accounts under circumstances that indicate that their card information could have been compromised through skimming,” SABRIC chief executive officer Kalyani Pillay said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Customers should never permit any form of distraction and not seek, nor accept, assistance from anyone with their ATM transactions so as to lower the risk of their cards being skimmed.” – New Zimbabwe.com